Shahrez Hayder has become a household name in the online business world, being featured in top-rated publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Yahoo Finance, International Business Times, and Inc. Hayder is an entrepreneur who has an expertise in business systems engineering. His track record speaks for itself as Hayder has founded and consulted in several 7 and 8 figure businesses. He is known to start and scale businesses to a million-dollar run rate in record time with his latest achievement taking a business to that level in just 93 days.
As Hayder’s brand keeps growing, we’ve decided to reveal ‘10 Facts About Shahrez Hayder that will Blow Your Mind’.
1. He was homeless after dropping out of college
This might come as a surprise to many, but Shahrez Hayder was homeless when he dropped out of Algonquin College at age 20 in September of 2019. Hayder has said on this situation:
“My parents always wanted me to go to university. I dropped out the first time without even attending a single class. The second time around, I enrolled at Algonquin College. Three days later, I dropped out. After that, I found myself on the streets. I couldn’t go home, and my parents had no idea about me dropping out. I slept on the street of Toronto. One morning, I woke up on Front Street and found a bag of food next to me, and it was an all-time low. I bought a bicycle with my last 30 dollars and started delivering food for restaurants. After four days on the street, I was able to stay at a homeless shelter. I got out of there in 2 weeks after delivering food and earning enough money to fly to Pakistan, where then I decided to reset my life.”
2. He was born in Lahore, Pakistan
Shahrez Hayder was born on May 25th, 1999, in Lahore, Pakistan. His family came to Toronto, Canada, when he was one year old.
Hayder has often praised his love for Pakistan stating things like, “My heart belongs in Pakistan. I love it there.
I feel so close to my roots and my family. My Nano (grandma) is my second mother, and she’s there. That’s home.”
3. His First Business Failed
Evaluating Hayder’s success today, it’s hard to believe that he could fail in business. However, like many greats in the business space, like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and J.K Rowling, Hayder has had his fair share of failures that have made him who he is today. He started his first business at age 19, which failed due to a lack of experience. Hayder recalls, “I remember we got our first client a couple of months after we started our first business. After that, we spent 10 hours a day trying to get results for a client paying us only a thousand dollars. We didn’t have the time to get a new client, and the current one didn’t see any results. It was a massive disappointment. We used this failure as a way to master systems and processes, which has allowed us to scale businesses to millions of dollars.”
4. He has over 50 cousins
Hayder has a vast family. Most of them are living in Pakistan. On his Mother’s side of the family, he is the eldest of 30 cousins.
Hayder’s core values include spending a lot of time with family.
“I used to try to avoid my big family all the time. I was trying to live in my world, on my terms. That was a boy’s mindset. As I grew up into manhood, I realized that family is all we truly got. Money can come back; materialistic things can come back. Once you lose blood, that’s gone. Appreciate it while you can.”
“My favorite quote on a man’s relationship with his family comes from Don “the Godfather” Carleone, which says, “A man that doesn’t spend time with his family is not a man at all.”
5. His Family had Less than $200 to their name when they Immigrated to Canada
Hayder’s father, Ibrahim Daniyal, is the definition of the ‘Canadian Dream.’ When the family had just immigrated from Pakistan to Canada in 2001, Ibrahim had less than $200 in his pocket.
Arriving in a brand new country with little to no money is a scary thought. Ibrahim managed to overcome this obstacle by studying hard during the day and working odd jobs at night. He drove a taxi as well as working at financial institutions for free through a co-op program.
Hayder’s Mother, Samina, opened her beauty salon as a street vendor downtown Toronto to support Ibrahim.
“I remember we moved from basement to basement downtown. A Lot of people see our family now and think we came from money. That’s not true at all. I’m not saying I’m from the hood like many other people. We did struggle. I still remember when my mom would take us everywhere on the bus, and my dad was nowhere to be seen because he was busting his behind to put food on the table. Eventually, through hard work, my dad got a car, it was a Honda Civic. That was probably one of the happiest days of my life, knowing that we didn’t have to take the bus as much anymore.”
6. He worked at Burger King and McDonald’s Until Age 18
What do Shahrez Hayder and Jeff Bezos have in common? Well, for one, both are good at engineering business systems. The other? They both worked at McDonald’s.
Shahrez hayder started working at burger king when he was just 14 years old. Hayder’s Mother, Samina, convinced the owner of the Burger King to let Hayder work there by telling them that he is a quick learner and good at talking to people. However, with no experience, that wasn’t enough for the franchise that had dozens of resumes coming in daily. Samina then told the Burger King owner that Hayder would work a whole week without pay to prove that he will be of use to the franchise.
Hayder got the job and worked at that Burger King for three years.
“One of the most important lessons that I just realize now is what my mom did for me to get that job. Instead of asking the owner to give me the job, she put value upfront and said that I would work for free for a whole week. At the time, that bothered me. I would always say I lost $300 from working for free. What I now realize is that experience put me in my first system and taught me valuable lessons and skills. For anyone ambitious to get their foot in the door, provide value upfront, it will go a long way.”
After tearing his hip and going through a “rough phase” (read more in the following few sections), Hayder was attempting to get his life back on track. He applied at the local McDonald’s with the help of a friend who worked there and constantly followed up until they hired him. He worked there for about three months before finding his passion for entrepreneurship.
“I had to get my life together and fast. I called up a friend who worked at McDonald’s down the road and asked him to introduce me to the manager. He did. After that, I would call every day and show up to talk to the staff. They had no choice but to hire me. I worked there, and it was a hard job. I ended up quitting after three months to have more time for new career options.”
7. He Played Basketball on a National Level
An interesting fact about Hayder is that he was quite the basketball player growing up. As a child, Hayder would use basketball as an outlet to stay away from the drugs and violence in his neighborhood. He would recall spending hours at the basketball court by his school for so long that he would often get in trouble when he came out at night.
In high school, Hayder would then play at a national preparatory level, where his competition were the likes of now NBA stars such as Deandre Ayton of the Phoenix Suns.
Unfortunately, Hayder’s basketball career fell short in his senior year as he tore his hip and was out for 12 weeks.
8. He Ran For Local Office at Age 19
In 2018, Determined to spark change and create awareness of social issues, Hayder declared that he would run for local office at the age of 19, becoming the youngest Regional Councillor Candidate in all of Canada.
His campaign was motivated by the recent loss of three former classmates. Hayder was in a political race against four other candidates who were all decades ahead in age.
However, he saw his age as a strength and not a weakness.
“My purpose is to make sure that no young life would be taken by the hands of gang violence, drug abuse, or drunk driving ever again.”
9. He Was the Victim in a Suicide Attempt
When looking at Shahrez Hayder now, no one could have imagined that this person, one of the most successful young entrepreneurs of his generation, had previously tried taking his own life.
Hayder’s words on this:
“There was a moment in my life where everything felt like it was stacking on top of me like weights. I remember that day so clearly. The past two months of my life were difficult, and an event had just occurred that left me in complete shock. I felt numb like the world was my enemy that everyone and everything was against me. I grabbed a thick cable and hung myself. With the blessing of God, the cable broke. I saw heavenly blue lights everywhere. I woke up screaming, unable to feel half my body and a cord wrapped around my neck. I will never forget that day.
It’s the day I realized how beautiful my life is. It’s the day I realized that death is not in my hands but God’s hands. Lastly, I realized that there is something meant for me because God did not let me die that day. That cord was not supposed to break, but God broke it for me.”
As a Motivational Speaker, Hayder uses that moment in his life to help those who are struggling with their lives, especially youth.
“Pain only leaves us once it’s done teaching us a lesson. That day, all the pain left from inside me, because I learned the biggest lesson of all, that I was meant to live. I will never even think about taking my own life ever again. Life is too beautiful. Not just mine, but yours too.”
10. He Became a Millionaire at 21
In a recent interview with Disrupt Magazine, Shahrez Hayder talked about how he became a Millionaire at just 21 years old.
His wealth was built by engineering businesses inside his company, Hayder Enterprises, and making profitable investments. In the article, Hayder talks about building systems and crucial tips that entrepreneurs need to know if they want to scale businesses as fast as Hayder does.